Beyoncé Releases Surprise "Visual Album"

Despite the 2013 trend of artists teasing albums with long, drawn-out and frustratingly cryptic roll-outs, Beyoncé has done us a real solid by coming out of nowhere to drop a surprise new record. Dubbed a "visual album," the self-titled effort arrived on iTunes tonight (December 12).

Marking Beyoncé's first album release since 2011's 4, the record comes with 14 tracks, with each song getting its own visual accompaniment. In a trailer, which you can view at the bottom of the page, she explains, "I wanted people to hear the songs with the stories in my head, because that's what makes it mine. That vision in my brain is what I wanted people to experience the first time."

Below, you can check out the tracklists for both the audio and visual portions. As you can see, the album comes boasting some special guests, including Jay Z, Drake, Frank Ocean and baby Blue Ivy.

Right now you can only buy the album as a single package digitally, but apparently individual tracks will also be served up piecemeal come December 20. The album will also reportedly arrive as a CD/DVD package over the holidays.

For now, you can buy Beyoncéhere, as well as watch a pile of 30-second preview videos below the tracklists.